May 13, 2013

#MeetSouthAfrica bloggers’ one night in Cape Town

Natalie Roos’ body was born in Johannesburg… but her soul was always Capetonian. At the age of 14, Natalie started work in the television industry, presenting popular local kids TV show, KTV. Ten years and another TV job later (presenting celebrity gossip show JIP on Afrikaans music channel MK), Natalie made the move down to Cape Town where she started her blog, Tails of a Mermaid (www.tailsofamermaid.com). Her love for the internet and all things communication-driven became a natural progression to a career in Social Media, where she worked in an agency managing the online presence, content and reputation of various brands.

If you’ve been following the #MeetSouthAfrica hashtag on Twitter, you might have seen that a group of bloggers from around the world – including from Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland and the United States – has been travelling through South Africa with South African Tourism for the past week, being introduced to the myriad sights, sounds and experiences that this beautiful country has to offer. The group arrived in Durban on Friday for #INDABA2013.

The Cape Town Tourism team had the opportunity to host a few of these bloggers in the city for one night, and with just a few hours in which to show them what Cape Town has to offer, the pressure was on!

A word of welcome from Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism

Next, we hopped aboard a minibus and headed to Langa for a supper-club experience in the township with Coffee Beans Routes. Our hosts, Sheila and Blackie, gave us a warm welcome and seated us around a long table in their living room for a tasty meal of local specialties (including chicken feet, or “walkie talkies” as they are known locally) and beer, while we were entertained by the soothing sounds of smooth jazz provided by Blackie.

Host of the Langa supper club, Blackie, providing entertainment for the evening

Outdoor theatre in Gugulethu

With stomachs full and hearts warm it was on to Gugulethu, where our bloggers were introduced to local theatre production director George. Out under the stars we were enthralled by a theatre piece entitled In the Other Yard, performed in the backyard of the writer’s old home. There’s nothing like a dramatic piece of theatre to infuse some local culture into the heart and mind of a visitor, and the chatter in the bus en route back to Cape Town was a testament of the kind of effect an experience like this can have.

Back in Cape Town it was straight to popular nightlife hub Long Street, where our visitors were given free reign and endless possibilities to savour their last few hours in the shadow of our mountain.

Follow these bloggers on Twitter to keep up to date with their travels and to see what they got up to on their #MeetSouthAfrica trip: